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Session 13
Game date June 11, 2011 Game notes 6 XP from last session. Game log The people who are still alive and with the party are: * Charles Moore * Curtis Anthony (Dr. Green's assistant) * Joan Fawcett * Morehouse Bryce (botanist) * Charles Myers * Avery Giles (assistant to Myers) * Albert Priestly (assistant to Myers) * Mordecai Dworkin (ichthyologist) * Conrad Felginer (assistant linguist) * Albert Gilmore (telegraph technician) * Lawrence Longfellow (mechanic) * Mike O'Doul (radio operator) * Early Masters * Kurt Jenner * Hernando Roulette (camp crew & cook) * Clayton Russel * Thomas Matheson * Maxwell Adams * Luo XianQi The watchlist currently consists of: * Clayton Russel (has a gun) * Thomas Matheson (in good shape) * Early Masters (has a gun and is brawny) * Kurt Jenner (camp crew with some firearm skill) * Charles Myers (the archaeologist with one of each medallion) * William Moore (leader) Moore has instituted a system wherein which no two people are paired together the same every night, but the pair usually consists of one person with a gun and one without. Also, no one has the middle shift twice in a row. This time, it's Russel and Matheson, who wait until the Kamayurá pass through camp to get started removing idols from backpacks. They choose the following people to take idols from: Curtis Anthony, Conrad Felginer, Mike O'Doul, Early Masters, Kurt Jenner, and Hernando Roulette. The tasks takes longer than anticipated, however, and only the backpacks of Curtis Anthony, Hernando Roulette, and Conrad Felginer are cleared. Dr. Russel also digs out his green medallions (leaving the pink ones) and disposes of them as a back-up plan, in case they're caught. They bury the pile of medallions before the Kamayurá pass through. They then clear out Masters, Jenner, and O'Doul. Dr. Russel is quicker and re-digs the hole while the others work. As they rebury them, they seem to stare at them with a malignant complacency, as the light of the fire plays over them. Russel and Matheson wake up their watch replacements and return to an uneasy sleep. * In the aftermath of the night's efforts, we have disturbing dreams: ** Matheson feels himself losing his intuitive connection and understanding of machines. Now, they are just objects with no meaning, and he doesn't even know how to use them. He smashes them in frustration. ** Russel dreams of a rival proving his discoveries as all frauds. His accusations are solid and irrefutable, and his career and life falls apart. ** Xiangqi dreams of the legions of people who died under his failure of care. They moan in pain and accuse him of his failures. He suffers simultaneously each of their diseases and injuries. ** Adams dreams that pictures seal away a piece of peoples' souls. He dreams of the damage he's done to thousands of people with his work. * We wake with splitting headaches. Insects are not ignoring us anymore. Those of us who are subject to it again are tired, complaining, and dispirited. None of us notice a particular change in behavior by the Kamayurá, except a little more chatter. * Maxwell tries to butter up Masters to chat with him by complimenting his mustache. Masters claims that the men of his family have an almost "Samson-like" relationship with their mustaches that lets them shoot well. He then tries to get Joan to open up by asking about whether she's excited to be near to her missing family. She's worried about them being out of contact with civilization for six years. After some chit chat, she gets the impression that he's trying to hit on her and shoots him down. * Luo finally succeeds on an Aura Sight roll. He sees that everyone in the party is tainted except himself. The worst off are Charles Meyers, his assistants, Joan, and Moore. Most other just have some mild blackening spreading over their shoulders with Russel having slightly more corruption. Everyone is worse than the last time he checked, and the rate of corruption is the same for everyone, including those who do not have a medallion. The Kamayurá's corruption is more fused with them than an overlay. Meyers, Joan, and Moore have auras that almost cover their arms. ** We ponder for a while what to do about them and come up with no answers. ** Luo might have some ideas for an exorcism, but he'll need a few days to develop it. October 21st * The evening passes uneventfully as we're on separate shifts. In the morning, the Kamayurá have some fresh meat for everybody. During the day of the march, Albert Gilmore gives a loud shout and thrashes about. He's partially fallen into a pit. His left leg is stuck nearly to the hip into the ground, and there are snakes coming out of the gap between his leg and the ground. These are extremely deadly coral snakes, and they are pouring out of their nest in all directions. ** Many of us scatter as the fact that they are coral snakes is called out. Moore and Meyer rush in, grabbing snakes and tossing them into the jungle before trying to pull Gilmore out. Gilmore is hyperventilating and freaking out. He passes out. ** However, Albert has not bitten and has survived unscathed. * Maxwell discusses whether or not getting rid of something that's protecting us was a good idea or not after having seen Albert live. Luo and Clayton are sure of their choice to remain free. Maxwell is uncertain. * Albert Gilmore wakes up but is still groggy and out of it from the morphine for his injury. When the natives return they express hope that he did not injure his leg too badly. When Luo asks if they think it's lucky he wasn't bitten, they reply that the creatures of the jungle aren't as dangerous as people think. October 22nd * It's time to get through another set of people. We're down to four who aren't wearing their idols on their person. We leave Dr. Dworkin, the ichthyologist and grab Bryce the botanist, Gilmore the telegraph tech, and Longfellow the mechanic. As we work, Gilmore wakes up and catches Matheson working on his pack. (X rolled a matched failure.) Matheson tries to explain that he's "checking the pack for snakes" as Gilmore blearily protests. The lie and charm rolls to smooth things over fail, and Gilmore starts to raise a ruckus that wakes up the camp. ** Maxwell comes over and tries to smooth things over but matched fails. ** Clayton comes over to check, and asks what's going on. When Gilmore starts protesting, he asks him to check if something is missing. Gilmore says he doesn't know and has Matheson turn out his pockets. ** Eventually Meyers and Jenner come over, having not fully gotten to sleep. They tell him to go back to sleep. He start going through his pack, gets halfway through and then says everything's there. * The rest of the watch goes uneventfully. The Kamayurá pass through uneventfully, and we pass on to the next watch. We did get Bryce & Longfellow. October 23rd * The following day is uneventful. Gilmore acts a bit hungover. * Another evening. Matheson and I are on different shifts, so no progress on raiding stones. Dr. Russel starts watching people who keep stones on them to see what they do at night. Joan takes hers out and worries with it in her fingers. Meyers passes his between his hands before going to sleep. * Towards morning, as the glimmer of light is showing in the east, there's a commotion on the far side of camp, and we hear a lot of brush being trampled and a grunting noise. Matheson was on third watch and rushes over to see Moore on the ground with a boar and a lot of blood. Some natives come into camp, flushing a few boars in front of them and stabbing them with their spears. The rest of us wake to this commotion. * The natives kill the other boar, and the blood is covering Moore's torso and arms. Moore's face is white, his eyes are half closed, and he's whispering to himself. He seems to be praying to Mother Mary while in pain. However, he's not injured himself. ** As Moore comes to, he says he heard something in the jungle and then something rushed out and hit him in the chest. He struggled with the boar with his machete before getting knocked down. ** The natives says that they were hunting for food and accidentally startled the boars into camp. ** Though Moore is uninjured, there is an odd gash in Moore's shirt. * Luo's Aura Sight works. Everyone is about the same as last time. * Enough time has passed that fatigue and disease start to strike again. Maxwell is stricken with a parasite transmitted by sand flies that starts to dissolve the skin around the mouth, nose, and limbs. Luo has maggots in his left elbow. ** Total aside: Dr. Russel notices that his burn scars from the bug acid are healed. Luo's black spots from the thing that came out of Evey are also gone. ** Luo asks for some help from our native guides. A short native pokes and prods at Maxwell. He prescribes some particular root and vine poultices. He also whistles at Luo's maggots to lure them out and picks them away. ** The healer says that this will hold at bay the current illness, but there is a better way to protect yourself and to heal wounds, and he can teach it to him. He sends the native who brought Luo to the healer off in to the woods to return 20 minutes later with a struggling macaw and a Zhathog statue. He balks at learning the technique initially. (Brad: So you're refusing the learn a technique that can heal people?) The healer tells him to break the birds neck and think of what he wants to have happen and tells him a string of words (including Zhathog). ** Luo casts the spell to heal his arm and the sores on Maxwell. (They both make Unnatural checks.) Luo asks the native if this is what has happened to Moore last night. He also asks about Gilmore falling into the snake hole. The native says that creatures of the jungle aren't dangerous to the degree that we think. He also tells Luo that the icons are protective and gives one to Luo to keep. * Maxwell and Luo have a conversation afterwards in which Maxwell jumps on Luo for his hypocrisy over the medallions, while Luo tries to justify his actions by saying that he'd blow his cover if he refused to do the rite. Maxwell convinces Luo to hand over the statue to him rather than wait until night. * This night is another Matheson & Russel night. We've got two free people left. We decide to leave Gilmore along, and Dr. Russel will take care of Dr. Dworkin. Moore and Masters take the first watch. We are not woken for our watch. Everyone dreams… ** Russel is a child playing with all his friends (the others in the expedition as children), until hide and seek is played. People start to disappear in the rough order that people died. Eventually, he is it, but no one can be found. Until he is eventually lost too. ** Luo sees himself in a disturbing mirror maze. He eventually finds his way out dizzy and dispirited. ** Adams is in NY playing paparazzi. He's invited to a poker game and is eventually chased by guards. (I get lost as Brad pauses a lot.) ** Matheson ??? something about deserts and constructions. * We wake in the morning and two of us are confused. Masters is still sleeping, and Moore is missing. Jenners and Meyers are waking up with us. There are a few natives in the camp. Dr. Russel tries to ask where Moore is. Their chief disappeared with Moore into the night, and the man I am speaking to (in English) is taking over the role of chief. ** There are also two boars that have been killed in the night, and all the wounds and aches in the camp have been healed. Everyone is well rested and in high spirits. ** We ask Masters what happened. They chatted for a bit, and Moore offered him some beans. He doesn't recall much after that, and the food is missing now even though he didn't finish. ** The boars were dragged into camp and killed here. There are three boot trails into the camp and four trails out. Two of those trails dragged the boards in and then left in the same direction. The other two trails go off in different directions. ** New native leader says that the chief was called in the night and that Moore chose to go with him. The chief will most likely not return and will be there when we arrive. If Moore chooses to return, then there are many who can guide him. The chief was called by "visions of the spirit world." * Luo pulls over Dr. Russel and the linguist's assistant to ask about the words in the spell he was given. It doesn't sound like anything he's heard from any of the local tribes, but it sounds similar to the words the Kamayurá speak to each other. Conrad is stymied too; he notes that the words in the sentence don't sound too related to each other. Joan claims to have no idea, but she asks where he heard the words, and he says the chief told him. (She seems tense when responding.) * Luo notices that the new chief has a fresh wound on his arm reminiscent of the wound that the chief of the Perman tribe made before he spoke English to us. Dr. Russel also realizes that the previous chief had a number of similar wounds. All the time he was around, he had a new fresh wound. * Dr. Russel addresses the camp with the story that the natives gives, which Masters calls BS on quite loudly. Russel mentions that he wants Masters and Adams to see if we can track Moore first, but if we can't, we have no choice but to move on and hope that we meet them. * We follow one of the set of tracks. They lead to a burned area. Fresh vegetation was burned incompletely. Adams guesses that this was done for some sort of sacrifice. The tracks go off at kind of a skew. The prints here are compatible with Moore, being the lightest of the four. ** We don't see any other tracks (like for the chief) alongside "Moore's" tracks. ** The tracks go further into the jungle for a few hundred yards and then circle back towards the camp. No real evidence near the brush where he turned. ** We see that the tracks at camp all seem similar. We follow the ones that didn't come and go with a boar. Eventually a native's footprints join him. They travel together for another few hundred yards or so. We find the slain body of a capybara, killed by a spear. The tracks vanish right near the capybara's body. There are no obviously disturbed branches above us. ** We asks Masters what he thinks. He thinks the whole situation is very strange, and on top of everything else points out that capybara are nocturnal. We track its path and come up on Kamayurá. He is surprised to see us; he warns us that there are many warriors hunting and that it is dangerous for us. Russel asks if they are his tribe or another, and he says, "Yes." He suggests that they will likely attack us and that the camp is safe. * We head back to camp. Dr. Russel tells everyone to get ready to leave and to have the guns ready in case we encounter anyone. * Dr. Meyers comes up to talk. He endorses my leadership and suggests that we keep torches around the campsite for visibility. Dr. Russel agrees and mentions that he is probably next in line for leadership. He also suggests hunting up some game to keep to release as a distraction, but Dr. Russel shoots that down as too much of a risk to have us be separated (and because it sends up a warning flag of looking for animals to sacrifice). We also "circle the wagons" with the sleds to have some minimal cover. * Time passes as everyone nervously waits with the noises of the jungle. Around dusk, we start to hear a commotion in the jungle over a fairly large area to the east. There are shouts and screams, with sounds of pain human and inhuman (some creepy and unsettling). ** Several people start to rearrange sleds and packs as a minor bulwark in the easterly direction. Over the next few minutes, the sounds of conflict grow closer. ** The perimeter of the camp is broken in a few locations. We see light moving towards the camp and a blossoming of fire, and the undergrowth starts to smolder and catch. However, it's unlikely that it'll spread too far. ** There is a large humanoid creature with a large articulated limb coming from its back wrestling with a tall native. There is another battle between a man with too many limbs being mauled by a jaguar. There is a Kamayurá battling off three fighters with a spear; the others are very tall and light in color. * The fight starts! ** Luo tries to use aura sight but fails. Dr. Russel shoots at one of the guys trying to kill our Kamayurá guide. Maxwell tries to get a read on the people; everyone involved is just consumed with hatred of each other and ignoring us. Two more shots are fired. Two of the three fighting the Kamayurá are hit; one stumbles & one falls. The one that's left smashes the Kamayurá solidly with a club that shatters; the Kamayurá skewers his opponents with a spear. The monstrosity appears to be a giant man with a scorpion tail; the warrior its fighting swings and misses and gets a stinger to the body. The jaguar is being unsuccessfully wrestled by the many-limbed guy who is being mauled by it. Luo noticed that whatever started the fire shot in from behind us into camp. ** Most of us hold action to see what the remaining fighters will do. Jenner seems to have been shot in the leg and is a little in shock. Masters is holding his shot too. The jaguar jumps from its still twitching victim onto the scorpion-esque monstrosity. The two taller warriors that went down get up again to go after the Kamayurá. The Kamayurá is barely holding them off. Russel shoots at and misses one of the warriors, and there's a bright flash of light from Maxwell's camera. ** Russel shoots at the warriors and misses again. Maxwell takes another picture. As Luo patches up Jenner, Jenner exclaims in anger and surprise that the gun went off in his hand. Matheson throws a machete in a graceful arc into the back of one of the pale warriors, point-first, and shatters. Everyone gasps. ** Matheson is flabbergasted. Dr. Russel says, "I know I shot one, can anyone see a bullet hole?" He and Maxwell spend their actions to take a close look, and all we can really see are a few cuts. The jaguar seems to have driven the scorpion thing to the ground and is the process of breaking its neck as the stinger hits into it again and again. The Kamayurá stumbles and turns around (facing somewhere perpendicular to the line from the expedition to the fight) and says, "Wait, what?" in English as the other two warriors spear him. ** The two warriors that are still standing crouch with their spears towards the camp and wait seeing the camp not acting and grabs the talisman off the corpse. They start pulling talismans off and smashing green ones. They are wearing pink ones. The people are very tall and they are naturally pale; their physiology is like that of the natives except for their height and color, and they are all female. The many-limbed creature and the scorpion man wore green. * Luo shouts out a greeting. They talk to each other for a bit, too quiet to hear. After a couple of minutes, more tall, pale warriors approach from the jungle. They talk with each other for a bit and break off to gather some of the dead to throw into our campfire. * One who seems to have been giving orders takes a spear and draws a line of blood down her arm. Neema of the Yanomami greets us after Dr. Russel greets her and asks for safe passage through their territory. She tells us we have been in very great danger from our guides. She says they would have guided us to our demise. They wish to take us back to their village where they can treat our wounds. Before, though, they wish to make sure all of have expunged ourselves of the evil stones the tribe has given all of us. ** Joan is pretty nonplussed at this, and the Meyers' asst. are paying attention to him as he's collapsed. His eyes are rolled back, and his breathing is shallow. When the Kamayurá was stabbed, Meyers fell too. Luo finds two cut marks on his arm. ** Meyers comes too after his assistants protest getting rid of the "priceless archaeological samples." Russel points out that we have plenty, can get more, and they're all the same mostly. Also, we need to look after the lives of our people. Meyers protests a bit too but grudgingly accepts. ** Joan points out that this is a keepsake of her father's from his last expedition. Dr. Russel counters that this may be a chance to see him. Luo takes them and gives them to the people who smash them. ** The leader wishes to talk to Joan. Joan stiffens her back. Her expression is pretty complicated. Maxwell asks if she wants to speak with them or wants someone to come with them. She says that it was her father's philosophy to give people a chance even when under heavy attack. * They lead Joan away, and she is not seen for a few hours. When she returns, she says that it was "most enlightening." She claims that what they talked about "girl stuff." She does have a very slight smirk. "Matriarchal society?" "Yes." He asks if they will help us. She says yes, and that they'll give all of us stones of their deity to protect us. They say they will protect us from the tribes of our previous guides. They give the talismans to each of us openly to protect us. ** She also says that they do know of her father and brother and that "these are the people we need to help us." She says she has not revealed her lineage. Category:Session Logs